Invertebrates section
Museum of natural history of the City of Geneva
Muséum d’histoire naturelle de la Ville de Genève
Route de Malagnou, 1
1208 Genève

Prof. Nadir Alvarez, nadir.alvarez@ville-ge.ch, +41224186456

Dr. Jeremy Gauthier, jeremy.gauthier@ville-ge.ch, +41224186456 

Topics: Population Genomics, Phylogeography

A large number of species of butterflies in the family Lycaenidae have the particularity of being associated with ants. Their caterpillars are taken over by the ants, brought to the nest where they are fed or where they do feed directly from the brood. The dispersal capacities of these species can be linked to different factors such as the presence of the habitat to which they are associated and the presence of their specific ants. The aim of this project is to analyze the spatial genetic structure of different species of Lycaenidae, showing different dependency levels to ants, and to study whether this association implies constraints in terms of dispersal and isolation. This study will be carried out on two scales: (i) on a European scale by comparing 10 species of Lycaenidae, using phylogeographic approaches, and (ii) on a local scale for three rare species of the genus Phengaris, in order to finely assess the genetic structuring and gene flows between different localities.